And here. We. Go.

New Year. New things. Resolutions. Personally, I think New Year's Resolutions are a bunch of hogwash. As far as I know (which is, in fact, very little), hardly anybody keeps them. I certainly don't. And yet I set them anyway. Why? This really makes no sense. I'm knowingly "participating" in something that has hardly any effect on anything.

Obviously, this blog is one of those "new things" I mentioned. It's not a resolution per se, but I thought it might be interesting to give a shot. So here I am. Embarking on my own little journey of blogging. Who knows how it will turn out? The odds aren't really in my favor: I rarely ever finish things I start. Sorry, Blog. But as I said, I want to try it out. It should be fun...right?

I've noticed something. The beginning of the year, especially the first few days of January, often result in much thinking. Thinking about the past, thinking about the future. I find myself reflecting on the previous year and looking forward to the forthcoming one. But I rarely stop and think about the present. Hmm. The present. I love that scene in Kung Fu Panda in which Master Oogway is talking to Po at the peach tree. He says, "There is a saying: yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called the 'present'." Corny as that sounds, it holds some serious truth to it. Every day is indeed a gift, and should be realized as such. I'm often so focused on things that are in the near future that I forget to think about now. I can't do anything about the past and I can't do anything about the future. I can, however, concentrate my efforts on what is going on now. Because now is all I have.

James 4: 13-15 NIV
Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."